Posts Tagged ‘HighSchool’

Many athletes these days are starting to lose the pride of the term STUDENT athlete. When I hear the term student athlete I think of someone who works just as hard on the field/court as they do in the classroom. Some high schools are beginning to lower the standard for athletes when it comes to the GPA required to compete, going from a 2.5 GPA to a 1.7 GPA. Having lowered the GPA it is okay if an athlete who has 6 classes to have 4 C’s and 2 D’s, that is passing! In these high schools I believe administrators are attempting to keep some athletes off the streets and trying to prevent them from getting into trouble such as joining gangs, selling or doing drugs.

As much as administrators are trying to keep these athletes out of these situations, it does not help them succeed in life because once they graduate high school, will they have a GPA high enough to attend college? If an athlete cannot pass and/or struggles with the subjects Math, English or Science all being the core subjects of standardizing testing and of the ACT/SAT, how can they get a high school diploma? Even more so if an athlete wants to play at a collegiate level will they be able to get their GPA high enough to be accepted into an institution? Will they be able to maintain a GPA high enough to be eligible for playing time? Al Woods author of “Warning: Student Athletes, Bad Grades Will Make You Invisible to College Coaches!” writes:

“I would guarantee you that one of the first questions a college coach will ask anyone about a particular student athlete is: “What are their grades like?”If the answer to that question is not a good answer, then you can best believe that’s the end of that discussion about that student athlete.” -Woods, Al

Therefore, administrators are not setting up these student athletes to be successful later on in life after high school. And until these athletes can prepare for their studies on a daily basis as they would if they were to play in the state championship game, they are going to have a hard time being victorious.

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